Day 84: Please Hear Me Out

Today I'm talking about All Too Well from Taylor Swift's 2012 album Red. This is tricky because many Taylor Swift fans regard this as the greatest song she has ever released, bar none. That very well may be the case when it comes to narrative lyrics; this song has some absolutely incredible lines. It's also notable for it's length, it's by far the longest song on Red at nearly five and a half minutes. This easily could've worked against it but it manages to never drag so the extra length is purely a plus. All of that said, I don't think this is Taylor Swift's best song, nor do I think it's even that close. Before you get too mad let me try to illuminate my point with a simple question. What's the point of this song?

I mean it. If you had to sum up the message of this song in one sentence, what would you even say? I've thought long and hard about this and the best I can come up with is this:

"Details that are beautiful in the moment can be painful after time has passed"

That's a pretty nice idea, but the truth is that I'm completely reaching. There are a few sections of the song that support this statement but most of them are only tangentially related, if at all. 

The reason this question is so difficult to answer is due to the songwriting process. All Too Well was never intended to have a deeper meaning than what you see on the surface. You don't have to take my word for it, Taylor said exactly as much when she performed it on tour. It's a cathartic song that was formed through bitterness, not drive to tell a story. That's why it feels so good to listen to; catharsis is sweet but only goes skin deep.

But oh boy does it feel good to listen to. I think of this song as a beautifully crafted sculpture. It's expertly formed and a pleasure to observe but it doesn't actually say anything you can take home with you. Maybe that's fine with you and you still love this song to death, that's all fine. But I will always prefer a song that has a strong message, even if it's a simple one. All of Taylor's best songs have clear motivation behind them. Mine assures you that love is always possible no matter your past, Clean tells us how a breakup can be more cleansing than destructive, and even Tim McGraw shows how no amount of bad memories can taint the ones we hold closest to our heart. 

By the way, if you're not familiar with All Too Well and think I'm saying I don't like it, you couldn't be more wrong. Taylor has written a lot of songs that follow a story through time and none do it quite as well as this one. She typically gets a little too caught up in the details but here she walks the line perfectly. This song drags you in; people love it because it forces you to feel every emotion with the same intensity that Taylor does on the very first listen and has the lyrical complexity to entertain no matter how many times you join in.

"You call me up again just to break me like a promise
So casually cruel in the name of being honest
I'm a crumpled up piece of paper lying here
'Cause I remember it all, all, all too well"

Just look at that! There's so much going on all at once. The symbolism in this song is second to none for sure, I just wish it was saying more than "you suuuuuck >:'( "

While I'm here I need to mention All Too Well's music. It's expertly crafted in a way that matched the emotion of the song beat for beat, going up and down at the exact right times. I find it especially impressive that Taylor managed this in such a long song. I really mean it when I say that the lyrics and music work in perfect unison throughout the entire song, there isn't a moment of downtime where you have time to get bored.

I divide Taylor's songs into groups based on overall quality, and I think I've made a defensible case for why this song doesn't hold up to Taylor's best tracks. That said, for me it sits among the very top of the next highest group. It's the best great song that has no chance of being an outstanding one. If you disagree and think this is still Taylor's best song that's fine. Maybe there's a deeper message that I'm missing, if there's one you can find please let me know. But until I have been convinced otherwise I just can't place it at the peak of Taylor's music.

See you tomorrow,
-C